Spontaneous
by dreamcatchings
Summary: She was scared. She felt helpless. She wanted change. She didn't know anything other then what she was taught. She wanted a new life. She looked at things differently from everyone else. On the outside, she was insecure. Internally, she was spontaneous. /au/dystopian/
1. Chapter 1

**authors note: heyyy guys I know I probably shouldn't be publishing another story since I'm in the middle of a multi-chap already, but whatever **

**cough do I really hope you like this :) **

**disclaimer: I don't own the clique**

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><p>She was <strong>scared<strong>

She felt **helpless**

She wanted **change**

She **didn't know anything other then what she was taught**

She wanted a **new life.**

She looked at things **differently from everyone else**

On the outside, she was **insecure**

Internally, she was **spontaneous**

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><p>Claire Lyons lived in a classic house with a classic family; she had one sibling, one mother, one father, and her house was almost cloud-high.<p>

It was the year 4001.

People called this time the 'New Age,' although to Claire it was more of the 'Unfair Age.' Women were not allowed outside (the thin air outside was meant only for strong, tough men) and they were required to wear dresses (they were women for a reason). To Claire, their ruler was a psychopath.

But nobody listened to little Claire Lyons, the girl with long, white-blonde hair and innocent blue eyes. Nobody cared what she had to say.

Nobody.

Charles IIII was 4000's Ruler. In 2756, they came out with a new medication, one that was inserted into a person via a needle. It was a small price to pay for living 1,000 years.

For 1,000 years, you couldn't die. No matter what.

You were invincible.

Claire didn't want to be invincible. She wanted to be human, like the people she read about in 2000-era books. There was a library in her house, and since she couldn't go outside, that was one of the only things she did.

Read.

But Claire's parents were planning to get rid of the library. _Her_ library. The only thing she had.

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><p>Claire was engrossed in a book called The Hunger Games. No one knew whether the trilogy was fiction or non-fiction, and Claire liked to argue with herself about whether or not, 2,000 years ago, her nation was called Panem, and if there really was a Hunger Games.<p>

When she was about to convince herself that the books were indeed non-fiction, Todd sprinted in. His red hair (that he hadn't inherited from anyone in the family) stuck to his forehead, which was sweating from the heat of the sun.

Todd had just been running around outside in shorts and a muscle tee, a baseball cap pulled low over his dark eyes. He was perspiring profusely, and his nose and cheeks were sunburned.

No surprise there, since it was 150 degrees out.

It was winter.

Everybody was used to it by now. The sun beat down, seeming to grow warmer and warmer every day. Claire swore that the blazing ball of fire was moving closer and closer as they looked at it.

But nobody bothered to listen to her.

"...don't you agree?" Todd finished, and Claire realized she had completely zoned out.

"Sorry, Todd. Could you repeat that? I had something on my mind."

"What could you possibly have on your mind? Besides our new neighbor, the one with the crazy eyes that you're always staring at. He likes the hot chick down the street, the Spanish one."

Claire blushed, her delicately pale face heating up. "Go away, Todd."

And so he did.

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><p>Claire smoothed out the dress she so hated, the one her mother had forced her to wear: a pink lace thing with a huge white bow acting as a belt. Her hair was in two messy braids, much to Judi Lyons's distaste. Claire's mother wanted a perfect daughter who adored Ruler Charles as much as she did.<p>

She didn't see anything good about her female child.

Even Jay Lyons wasn't proud of Claire.

They didn't know how incredibly smart she was, or that she was extremely gifted at running. Even she didn't know. She wasn't allowed to run in her home.

Ruler Charles didn't believe in women having rights, and somehow, with some crazy political campaign and advertisements, he convinced the rest of Earth to believe it too.

Men were in charge of everything. Women existed to look pretty and make babies.

It was the cold, hard truth.

And Claire hated it.

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><p>There was barely any land left. Claire had recently found out from one of her books that there used to be something called 'countries', and there was a ruler for each one. She also found out that she was living in what used to be 'America'.<p>

Or that was its last recorded name, anyway. After that, it was highly possible that her country might have been Panem.

Nobody knew.

America was the only intact 'country' left. The rest? Flooded. The people? Dead.

There wasn't a single school across all of their land. The people got a shot each month that inserted information, if you had the money. The shot cost more than one million dollars, but that was cheap. Claire was surprised Ruler Charles hadn't gotten rid of money yet and wasn't using blood droplets or something like that instead.

Claire, at 367 years old, was a teenager. From 0-100, you were considered babies, pre-schoolers, and kindergarteners. Ages 100-250 were grade-school age. 250-350 were tweens. 350-550 were teenagers. Everybody else was an adult or a senior.

Claire thought she looked alright for a teenager; she wasn't overweight and she loved her long blonde hair, even though blondes were considered idiotic, according to Ruler Charles, who had pitch-black hair.

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><p>Barging into the room, Todd announced, "Look who's here."<p>

Hearing the _ding! _of a portal, Claire walked over to her window (nine miles up in the air) and peered outside.

It was the boy, Cam, his brother, and his father.

Cam, the boy with the different-colored eyes.

Cam, the boy she loved.

Not that she'd ever spoken to him.

Not that she was allowed to pick _her own fucking husband_.

"Mom invited the Fishers over for dinner, since they're new to the neighborhood and everything," Todd explained. "But I think she just wanted to see if they were upper-class."

"Where Mrs. Fisher?" Claire asked quietly.

"She's using a portal to get over," Todd replied.

Suddenly, a hologram appeared in the air above their heads. It was their mother. "Get downstairs now," Hologram Judi ordered. "We are having dinner with the Fishers. Please brush out your hair, Claire, and dress in a suitable outfit. And change in something less sweaty, Todd. Then get down here.

Todd winked at Claire and ran off to change.

Claire sighed. She had been interested in Cam ever since he moved next door; she thought he was really cute and she even saw him reading a book once, something nobody ever did (except for Claire). She knew Cam would never go for her, though. After all, Todd was right (as usual); he was always with that gorgeous girl, Alicia.

After making a quick wish that Cam wouldn't laugh at her weirdness, Claire quickly ran a brush through her hair, which fell in soft waves down her back from the braids. After trying to smooth out the wrinkles in her dress, she used a portal to get downstairs.

Showtime.

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><p>Cam Fisher, and his brother, Harris, simultaneously ran one hand through their jet-black hair as they entered the Lyons house. Harris was about 110 years older then Cam, although that wasn't much older, as each day was only about ten hours.<p>

But no one knew the real truth anymore, with the sun out 24/7, so there was no actual way of telling.

Every day, Cam watched Claire sit in her window seat and read, admiring not only how pretty she was, but also that she loved books, just as he did. He saw her go through at least two stories a day, hoping that one day she would look out the glass pane and _notice_ him.

If you asked Cam who Alicia Rivera was, Cam would say he had no idea. Alicia really didn't mean anything to him; she was always where he was, basically begging for Cam to ask her out, but he hardly noticed her. Sure, she was pretty, breathtaking, mind you, but she was too much like the rest. Too much like all the other girls he knew, like the red-haired girl Dylan, who followed Derrick Harrington, and Massie Block, who trailed Joshua Hotz.

But Claire was different.

Cam was planning on impressing hertonight at dinner, although he wasn't sure how.

He sat down at the long dinner table in the Lyons' dining room, next to Harris, and trying not to gape as Claire used a portal to appear in the entrance to the dining room. She kept her head down as she randomly picked a seat that happened to be across from Cam.

But when she looked up and noticed him, a blush instantly lended her cheeks a pink color.

Cam gave her a smile and she just looked down, blushing even more.

Showtime.

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><p><strong>agh I hope that wasn't too far-fetched or anything like that<strong>

**thanks to my amazing beta-reader, Joy aka outside the crayon box! Check out her amazing stories**

**PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE REVIEWWWWWWW OR ELSE I WILL BE UPSET AND DISTRESSED AND LONELY AND STUFFSHDKANFNSNDBD **

**before any of you ask, yes, I did put Charles as the ruler for a reason.**

**Review :)**

**-Chica**


	2. Chapter 2

**authors note: heyy sorry about the slow update, blah blah, all that jazz, I know people hate long authors notes so I might as well just let you scroll onto the story (:**

**disclaimer: I don't own the clique**

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><p>"Can you pass the duck, please?" Claire's voice was hoarse and barely above a whisper. Her cheeks were bright red, and her eyes were cast downward. It's wasn't a sign of respect. She was nervous.<p>

Incredibly nervous.

Cam reached over and handed her the large white platter. Claire accepted it with one hand, not aware of the weight, and almost dropped it all over the rest of the food.

And of course Judi let out a little shriek: her social status could be affected.

But Cam simply extended an arm and supported the dish, giving her a small smile.

"Thank you," she murmured, sliding some meat onto her plate.

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><p>She didn't want to get sucked in.<p>

She knew that if she fell for Cam even more than she already did, she wouldn't be able to hold on, as he would surely let go. And then she'd _really_ fall.

Gently, Claire set the duck on the table, and tried not to cringe at the sight of it. She absolutely _hated _duck, but (as usual) nobody cared about that. She would eat it or starve, according to her mother.

Claire wanted nothing more than to be curled up in her window seat, with a old, worn, falling-apart-at-the-seams (just like she was) book. She didn't want to deal with people and rules and society in general. She didn't want to live.

That wasn't true.

She just wished she wasn't invisible.

Claire stared longingly out the window at the magnificent sunset down below on the horizon. The sky was a marvelous collage of lollipop-pink, bright orange, lemon-yellow, and deep, blood-colored scarlet. She wanted to be outside, wanted to feel the warm air caress her face as she joined the world.

Her life seemed like a never-ending dream. A never-ending _nightmare._

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><p>Cam caught her staring out the window and that's when he realized <em>that<em> was Claire's dream, _that's _what she wanted: to be outside.

_That wish, _he decided, w_ould have to come true._

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><p>Returning from the bathroom, Judi noticed an uncomfortable silence lingering in the dining room. She decided that since Mr. Fisher wasn't there (he had a meeting that night), she could use the opportunity to find out more about their neighboring family. "So, Ella, what is it your husband does?" she asked Mrs. Fisher.<p>

"Government work. For the Ruler," she replied. "I'm sorry he couldn't be here tonight; he had-"

"A meeting. I know." Judi smiled graciously, pleased. The Fishers _were_ upper-class, indeed.

Mrs. Fisher nodded. "It's a good, steady job." The two women started discussing new laws Ruler Charles had made.

Cam turned to the blonde opposite him, still smiling. "So Claire, how old are you?"

Her head snapped up, and she mumbled, "367 and a few months."

Score! "We're only two years apart. I'm 369." He couldn't keep the excitement out of his voice.

Claire bit her lip and sighed.

"You look really pale. Do you feel alright?" Cam asked.

"I'm, f-f-fine, just, uh, t-tired," Claire stuttered.

Todd rolled his eyes as he cleared his plate and set it off to the side for the maid to pick up. "Sorry about her. She doesn't interact with people her age much. In fact, she doesn't interact at all, really."

Claire turned to him. "Shut up, Todd."

But, of course, Judi overheard her. "Don't be rude to your brother, Claire. He's right." Men were _always _right.

Claire stood up, feeling as though she would cry, and that was not an option, especially in front of Cam. She refused to embarrass herself more than she already was. "May I be excused?"

Jay jumped in. "You barely ate a thing, Claire." He glanced worriedly at his daughter's full meal.

"Just go," Judi snapped.

She did.

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><p>A few minutes after Claire left, Cam said, "Mom, could I go talk to Claire about that library I always see through her window?"<p>

Judi looked angry that he seemed interested in something _Claire _liked, but she replied in a clipped tone, "Absolutely."

"We're leaving soon, so be fast, please," Mrs. Fisher warned.

"I will, don't worry."

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><p>Considering the house was huge, Cam found Claire's library pretty quickly. He knocked quietly, then cracked open the door and entered the spacious room.<p>

Claire's bright blue eyes shot up from her book and focused on him. "You scared me!" she accused.

"I'm sorry," he said honestly, "I wasn't trying to."

She shrugged. "It's alright." Then she focused on her paperback and steadily ignored him.

Cam moved closer and hovered over the blonde's shoulder. "What're you reading?"

She showed him the cover of a worn-out book. The pages were dog-eared and yellowing, and the colors were faded. But the picture, of a thin, black-haired boy perched on a broom, was still clear. "It's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It's the seventh one in a series about a boy named Harry who finds out he's a wizard but..."

"I've read them." Cam grinned. "The ending was amazing, but I won't spoil it for you. But you'll have to come over so we can talk about it. Or I'll come here."

She beamed, so excited about what he'd said that she didn't bother to tell him that she'd already finished the books (at least three times). He really wanted to see her again?

Cam started telling her about other books he really liked, and they discovered that they both enjoyed fictional adventure and fantasy. Just when they'd finished discussing their favorite John Green book, T-Fios (Cam because it had made him laugh, Claire because it had made her cry), a hologram of Cam's mother appeared in the room.

"Time to go, Cameron."

He pouted at Claire, but rose to his feet. "I'm coming, Mom." The image fizzled out, and Cam turned back to Claire. "It was really nice talking to you. I hope when you finish Harry Potter we can chat again." He smiled, teeth straight and white.

Claire blushed, her pale skin turning red with the rush of blood to her cheeks. "Me too. I mean...yeah, it was great, uh..."

"See you soon," Cam replied easily, his eyes (one forest-green, one cerulean-blue) twinkling. He stepped into the downstairs portal and disappeared, taking Claire's heart with him, or that's what she felt like.

**yays I finally updated, hope u liked the chapter :):):)**

**-chica**

**reviewreviewreviewreviewreviewreviewreview**


	3. Chapter 3

_**okay hi I don't know why (hey that rhymes (OMG THAT TOO) (I THINK))) but im going to write my authors note for this chapter in italics**_

_** please I'm weird no judging**_

_** this is a disclaimer I don't own the clique or any of that stuff**_

_**I also dont own my own car.**_

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><p><em>Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars. <em>Claire closed the book she was reading (she thought it was called _The Lord of the Rings_, but she wasn't sure, because the words on the cover had long since faded) and looked out the window. The sky was darkening slightly, but the sun stopped just before sinking down below the horizon. The atmosphere was ablaze with fiery swirls of orange, which would last throughout the night until the blazing ball of fire once again rose to its full height.

Claire had read a lot of books featuring moons and moonlight, but she still wasn't sure quite what a moon was. But she figured anything would rather stay in space than come down to this disaster. She wasn't exactly surprised that she'd never seen it. Then again, the idea of a moon was quite romantic. After all, in the olden days, it died every night to let the sun breathe.

She didn't blame the moon; she would do the same thing if she had the choice. Die, to let the love of her life live.

But she didn't. Have the choice, that was.

Nobody did, really.

That thought seemed to whack Claire in the face. She always thought about the mystery of death, and what it was like, and that it wouldn't happen to her, or anyone on Earth, and how eventually they would use up all the Earth's resources, and they still wouldn't die. Or would they, if there was nothing to keep them alive?

Her head spun.

She hadn't realized that unless something hugely drastic happened, she really, completely, would never die.

For some reason, the thought depressed her. Claire didn't know why she'd want to die. It was nothing more than an endless oblivion, a place from which one never returned. But she found it sad that she'd never get to experience something that was once a vital part of human existence.

Claire sprang up from the seat, the creased paperback slipping to the carpeted floor, and raced into the hallway, desperate to tell someone about her thoughts.

But she skidded to a stop on her heels and leaned sideways against the beige-painted wall.

She had nobody to tell.

Claire backtracked into the library and shut the door behind her, a firm sign to her family that clearly stated 'Do Not Disturb.' Then she flopped onto her stomach on the window-seat and stared absentmindedly outside, where the lights of the Fisher house glowed golden against the ember-toned sky.

Cam.

She could talk to Cam. He had been so sweet, smiling at her every chance he got. He would listen. He would reassure her that her thoughts weren't crazy. He would understand that women deserved to have a say. He would appreciate her.

Or would he?

She recalled eating with the Fishers the evening before, and Mrs. Fisher's words of how her husband worked for the Ruler.

Crap. She couldn't tell Cam anything; if his father heard any of it, he would have to go to the government with the information, and Claire would be arrested and tortured.

Was Claire the only one who got that Ruler Charles was insane, with all his wacky laws and arbitrary decisions, with his mandate that everyone must be invincible? To Claire, invincibility wasn't some great wonder.

Death was. Dying an exciting death, dying an expected death, dying with the one she loved.

She got, somewhere in her brain, that what she was thinking was sort of sick. Who in their right mind would _want_ to die? Would _wish_ they could know what death felt like? Even to herself, _she _sounded like the insane one. But her mind continued.

What about when you die? Then what?

And what if you could stop death?

She realized that was exactly what those men who invented the immortality serum had done. Stopped death. It must, she supposed, have seemed like some great feat.

But was it really?

This was too much. Claire needed someone to bounce her thoughts off of. If she couldn't, she'd go crazy.

Not Todd. He wouldn't give a damn.

Not her parents. Judi wouldn't even listen, just shoo her off, and Jay, although he cared more about Claire than his wife, wouldn't really be interested either. He supported Ruler Charles wholeheartedly, to the point that he wouldn't hesitate to report his own daughter to the authorities.

That left Cam.

But she couldn't talk to Cam.

_Then we'll just have to keep it a secret,_ she decided. _Tomorrow, I'll get his attention._

But for tonight, she would sleep, and imagine life as a moon, letting herself disappear forever to save her lover.

How romantic.

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><p>"Just do it, will you, asshole?" came the demand from an inside Ruler Charles's private office quarters.<p>

"But why, Ruler?" a pleading voice echoed back.

"Because I said so!" Ruler Charles spat.

The man groaned, but exited the room with a salute and a sharp, "Yes sir!"

Not 30 seconds later, another man entered the room, asking, "What for?"

Ruler Charles narrowed his hazel eyes, but confided in William. "I sense rebellion in that sector," Charles told him.

William closed his eyes so they didn't roll and betray his annoyance. When he opened them again, they were calm and steady. "The Clam Sector? I checked on their files recently. They're obedient, and have perfect credit scores."

"How recently, exactly?" Charles wondered smoothly, fingering his black mustache. "When you looked into them, was there a Fisher family there?"

"I don't believe so, Ruler."

"Then obviously I know more than you," gloated Charles.

"Why is this Fisher family important?" questioned William.

"Were you not eavesdropping on my entire conversation with Len Rivera? Or are you not good at even that? Rebellion, you idiot."

"Rebellion?" William repeated in awe.

"A dangerous thing. Right now, a game, but if out of hand..." His voice trailed off dangerously. "The last town these Fishers lived in was Westchester. There, the family rebelled. Actually, not the family. The wife, and the two boys. I gave Mr. Fisher a job in my government in exchange for getting his wife under control, using some ... slightly unconventional methods." Ruler Charles's eyes narrowed, and the corners of his mouth turned up in an evil smirk. "Now the father has moved them here, to Clam, under my orders, so I can watch them. Keep an eye on them. Make sure they don't try anything ever again. After all, why would they want to rebel? This planet ruled by me could not be more perfect."

"Absolutely, sir."

"But the two boys trouble me. They can start something up again. They are desperate for change, and for no real reason at that. So I want close tabs on Clam. I hope there are no complaints."

There was a complaint. "They are just two boys, Ruler, surely we shouldn't be wasting, erm, _spending_ our time on that."

Ruler Charles snapped his fingers twice. Two burly men entered the room, their eyes fixed firmly on the Ruler. Each man grabbed one of William's arms and hauled him into a small room.

Not a minute later, a long syringe with an evil point that had been emptied of its slimy green liquid was being set down into a hidden drawer.

And William Block was dead.

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><p><strong>okay that chapter was pretty short I know but it was really important, so yeahh<strong>

**review? please? please? please? **

**-chica CRAP I FORGOT TO DO ITALICS AND IM WAY TOO LAZY TO HIGHLIGHT EVERYTHING AND THEN MAKE IT ITALICS UGH SO MUCH WORK**


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